Whispers From the Past
by rumpelsnorcack
Summary: As hard as she tries, Ginny can't forget Harry during her sixth year at school. Also contains Neville/Hannah


'You like her, Neville. I can tell.' Ginny was curled on her side watching the giant squid's tentacles break the surface of the lake, leaving ripples in their wake. It was a rare moment of relaxation. The Carrows had been unable to pin a detention on either of them, though Luna had been less lucky. Ginny squinted up at Neville now a vivid shade of red after being caught staring at the blonde Hufflepuff. Ginny giggled to herself. It seemed dissonant, not to mention ironic, that a mere five years ago she had sat here staring wistfully after Harry and yet here she was giving Neville advice on how to get past an unrequited passion.

'There's no point, Gin. She'd never notice someone like me.' Neville carefully refrained from looking in the direction Hannah Abbot had gone; instead his fingers scratched patterns on the grass beside him, a habit Ginny had noticed him indulging in a lot of late whenever Hannah was near.

Ginny pushed him, knocking him off balance, pulling his fingers from the grass and making him pay attention to her. 'What exactly do you mean by that, doofus?'

'I ... I'm not ... cool. No-one ever notices me.' Avoiding Ginny's eye, Neville resumed pulling grass, focused intently on the varied shades of green. 'It's amazing how many shades there are when you looked at them closely, see ...'

Ginny sat up, glaring at him, ignoring the feeble attempt at changing the subject. Her eyes flashed. 'Not cool? Not _cool_! Neville, listen to yourself. You are single-handedly resurrecting the DA. How can you say you're not cool?' By the time she had finished they were garnering several interested looks from nearby students and Neville clasped his hand over her mouth.

'Okay!' he hissed. 'Don't go shouting it around. Do you want to get more punishment?' he squinted down at her. 'Besides, it's not single handed.'

Ginny was uncomfortable aware that her outburst had been reckless, but she didn't let up on Neville, whispering against his hand, 'Oooooh Neville, I do so love a forceful man.' She fluttered her eyelashes at him causing him to grin as he dropped his hand away. 'But, I want to know what you're going to do about Hannah. You should just ask her out. What's the worst that could happen?'

Listening to herself, Ginny smiled in amusement. It hadn't been long since she had been this focussed on Harry and would have been mortified at the idea of 'just asking him out.' It felt odd to be on the other side, especially since she hadn't exactly managed to _keep_ Harry once she had him.

Beside her, Neville slumped in resignation and shook his head. 'She'd laugh at me. I'm no Harry, with girls falling all over me.' Ginny's eyes narrowed and he squeezed her hand. 'Back before, you know ... before you two ...' Ginny's look softened into one of misty remembrance, even though she knew she shouldn't dwell on the time when she and Harry were together. Neville cleared his throat. 'Anyway, I don't even know how to talk to girls.'

'What rot! What am I? A mandrake?' Ginny hugged Neville to her. 'I'm serious. Just do it. You'll never be happy until you give it a go.'

Neville smiled sheepishly and looked in the direction Hannah had gone. 'She seems lonely, don't you think? Maybe I should talk to her sometime.'

Ginny laughed and said, 'yeah, maybe you should. Possibly even outside of the DA meetings.' Neville looked at her sideways, the expression on his face forbidding and Ginny knew it was time to stop teasing him.

She climbed to her feet and held her hand out to him. 'Come on, we need to go. It's Muggle Studies next, and you know we can't be late for that.'

Neville allowed her to pull him to his feet and they walked slowly back to the castle together.

***

A few weeks later Ginny caught a glimpse of Neville and Hannah together. Neville had a herbology book in his hand and his dark head bobbed towards Hannah's blonde one then pulled back. He jiggled a little as if he wanted nothing more than to be away from her, though Hannah looked receptive to his presence.

_Oh Neville_, Ginny thought as she watched him blush and scurry away from Hannah. _This will never do_. The next time they were in the common room together, Ginny slid onto the couch next to him. Neville's fingers were plucking at the faded fabric of the chair next to him, and he didn't seem to notice when she sat down.

'So, how're things going?' Ginny felt a small stab of smugness as Neville started at her words.

'Oh, it's okay, Ginny. Teachers are as bad as ever, though Snape seems weird ...'

'Tell me about it. He was almost, I don't know, tame when he caught me making fun of Amycus in the hallways. But,' Ginny fixed Neville with a concerned look, 'it's not school I was asking about.' She lowered her voice. 'What about Hannah?'

Neville blushed. 'Um, well, it's going ...'

'I saw you together the other day. You looked a bit nervous.' Ginny gave Neville a sympathetic smile, but his face fell.

'I can't help it. I just don't know how to talk to girls, like I said before.' Neville slumped again and threw his head back on the chair. 'Maybe I should just give up.'

'Don't you dare. The herbology book was a great idea, and she seemed to like being with you, too. You just need to relax a bit. Be yourself.'

This time Neville grinned at her. 'Uh-huh, and how long did it take you to live that advice?'

Ginny poked him in the ribs and Neville slid off the couch, laughing. 'Well, take it from me then. I should know. Being yourself is a much better option.' She smiled at him sadly. 'I could have had heaps more time with Harry if I'd figured that one out sooner.'

***

Several weeks later Ginny was wandering through the halls of the castle, trying to keep out of the way. The weather was beginning to turn cold and her breath was starting to mist in the air. She shivered as she made her way through the warren of corridors leading to the Gryffindor common room.

Lost in thought, Ginny pulled aside one tapestry before she realised she had taken the wrong turn. In the dim light she could just make out a couple locked in an embrace. They were pressed together, bodies almost interchangeable as they leaned against the stone of the wall, and Ginny was forcefully reminded of the day that Harry and Ron had discovered her and Dean in just such an embrace. The girl's blonde hair caught the light as she angled her head up towards her partner and Ginny smiled as she backed away. _Go, Neville!_ She thought. _Nice technique_.

As she hurried away her thoughts turned to Harry. They may never have taken time together in the vast stony corridors of the castle (and why _was_ that, Ginny wondered) but that moment of horrified realisation on Harry's face when he had seen Dean kissing her had been the start of ... well, everything. And now – now Neville had found Hannah and Ginny, technically, had no-one, even though it didn't feel that way. How could it, when everywhere she went reminded her of him and what they'd had together? Being in the Great Hall made her think of all the meals they had shared together, casually linking hands as they sat side by side. Potions class made her think of the greasy slimeball who had kept them apart so meticulously the previous year. The overstuffed furniture in the Gryffindor common room reminded her far too often of the time she had spent mooning over Harry as he sat near the fire with Ron and Hermione, and always made her flush with embarrassment.

She was happy for Neville, of course she was, but until the moment she had seen Neville and Hannah together she had never been reminded about the way Harry's lips felt when they kissed, how they could be soft and gentle or harder, more demanding. And that was odd, she thought, since one of the last things she had done before Harry left was kiss him. Every feeling she had unintentionally suppressed since Harry had whisked out of sight at Bill's wedding crashed in on her and she almost whimpered from the shock of it. Neville's hand had cupped Hannah's face as they kissed, and if Ginny closed her eyes she could almost feel Harry's hand on her cheek, the rough skin rasping against hers as she pressed closer to him. She could feel the phantom of Harry's body against hers, the feel of his heartbeat thudding under her hand, and longed for him to be there with her again.

As her mind began to conjure the memory of his scent Ginny opened her eyes and shook the thoughts out of her head. They were too potent, too raw and altogether too _much_. Maybe that's what she had been shielding herself from, the potent memories of their time together because it was too painful to dwell on them. Whispering at the back of her mind was always the fear that she might never see him again, and she wasn't ready to deal with that. Ginny would never be ready to give up on him. 'Stay safe, Harry,' she whispered fiercely into the hallway as she moved towards Gryffindor tower again, the words taking almost solid shape as her breath huffed into the cool silence around her. 'Stay safe and come back to me.'


End file.
